Forget the moon, think about Mars. This is the vision set out by President Barack Obama for Nasa. The target date is the mid-2030s. This is what strategists would define as a big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG). This is the type of vision that captures the people's imagination. It also helps to set the real champions apart. The moon now is for China and India.

Transforming Malta into a centre of excellence too is a BHAG. However much President Obama wishes Nasa to land on Mars during his Presidential tenure, he realises that this is not achievable. So forget 2015 and think beyond. This was perhaps the first recommendation made by Angelou Economics to our government. The Texan company describes itself as "economic development and site selection consultants". Why and how they were chosen, we do not know. Angelou's work is as important for our society as Renzo Piano's work is for Valletta. How an American company can relate to the realities and aspirations of a micro, EU society is not easy to grasp.

Hopefully, Angelou will still manage to breathe some life into Vision 2015.

The "centres of excellence" concept was first conceived in the 2006-2010 pre-Budget document titled A Better Quality Of Life. We are already almost half way to 2015 and the strategy is still not finished.

To date, Angelou have prepared two reports: Market Assessment and Target Industry. Vision 2015 is still work in progress.

Reports on quality of place, competitiveness as well as the recommendations and implementation plan and a marketing strategy have still to be completed. No deadline for completion has been set. It is therefore premature to talk about concrete and measureable targets that Vision 2015 will yield or how these dovetail with Europe 2020 and the related national reform programme. To date, the only link between the two strategies is the sub-title added to Vision 2015 and beyond: "A path to a knowledge-based economy".

There are many ways of describing a "centre of excellence" with the critical elements being the emergence of a competitive network having world-class research and innovation capabilities. The network brings together industry, academia as well as governmental and non-governmental institutions.

The first hurdle in promoting local centres of excellence is our mind-set. We need to learn how to work together. We have too much fragmentation with most institutions propagating a "defend your turf" culture. According to the European Innovation Scoreboard, Malta's innovation performance is below the EU 27 average.

Understandably, the revised Vision 2015 no longer features Gozo as a separate "sectoral" centre of excellence. Instead, specific target industries for Gozo have been identified. These industries are back-office activities, rehabilitative care, tourism (eco, health and high-end) and arts and culture. Also, the scope of two other sectors has been broadened: healthcare into life sciences and ICT into creative industries. A new sector has been added: transportation and advanced logistics. Although some inter-sector activities (such as education, tourism and pharma-manufacturing) have been identified, the strategy adopts a "vertical" approach. The new Vision 2015 claims that "economic diversification... (is) a primary indicator of health and stability of an economy" (Report 1, 38).

For a small island economy, with a workforce of 150,000 persons, this is not necessarily so. Trying to excel in seven broad sectors is a herculean task. While acknowledging that a degree of diversification is welcomed by public policy-makers (they resent having too many eggs in one basket) it may easily lead to fragmentation. Unable to reap "economies of scale" and other externalities, small states will fail to reap "economies of scope" and critical mass, which is essential for specialisation, reputation and competitiveness.

For small states like Malta, it is more appropriate to adopt a "horizontal" approach, one that emphasises "flexible" specialisation. Diversification may help us keep our ground but will not ensure that we make the necessary qualitative leap.

Equally important is the fact that the proposed strategy "glorifies" certain activities to the detriment of others. For example, what is advanced manufacturing? What ultimately matters is not in what sectors Malta competes but how it competes. At this stage of our economic growth, we cannot continue hiding behind the usual clichés. Increase value added, link education and industry, upgrade tourism, develop alternative finance; the list is endless. What we need to know is why, despite all the talk, progress has not been satisfactory. Only then can our economy start to progress.

Angelou rightly point out that to become a "centre of excellence" it is not sufficient for our country to regain its "attractiveness" to foreign investors. Malta needs to stimulate and incentivise local entrepreneurship. We need to move beyond being "a glorified supply base". We need to develop a marketing capacity and ensure that a few world-class, indigenous enterprises boost our economy's interface with the global one.

Malta's per capita income is still 35 per cent below the EU average. Vision 2015 confirms that over the last five years we have been losing ground. This has little to do with the global economic recession. We, and our children, deserve much better. Let us hope that Angelou Economics get it right.

fms18@onvol.net